John Bancroft (1574 – 12 February 1640/41) was an English clergyman and academic, who served as

Bishop of Oxford The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft (bishop), Steven Croft, following the Confirm ...

and

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

.Darwall-Smith, Robin, ''A History of University College, Oxford''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2008. . John Bancroft was the son of Christopher Bancroft and the nephew of

Richard Bancroft Richard Bancroft (1544 – 2 November 1610) was an English churchman, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1604 to 1610 and "chief overseer" of the King James Bible. Life Bancroft was born in September 1544 at Farnworth, now part of Widnes, Ch ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

. He was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, graduating B.A. 1596, M.A. 1599, B.D. 1607, D.D. 1609/10. In the church, Bancroft held the following livings: * Rector of

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...

, Middlesex (1601) * Rector of Stourmouth and

Orpington Orpington is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary Cray, sou ...

, Kent (1608) * Rector of Woodchurch, Kent (1609) * Rector of

Biddenden Biddenden is a large, mostly agricultural and wooded village and civil parish in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. The village lies on the Weald of Kent, north of Tenterden. It was a centre for the Wealden iron industry and clothmaking. ...

, Kent (1610) * Canon of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

(1609) *

(1632–1641) * Vicar of Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire (1633) * Vicar of

Bray Bray may refer to: Places France * Bray, Eure, in the Eure ''département'' * Bray, Saône-et-Loire, in the Saône-et-Loire ''département'' * Bray-Dunes, in the Nord ''département'' * Bray-en-Val, in the Loiret ''département'' * Bray-et-Lû ...

, Berkshire (1633) Bancroft's uncle appointed him to Finchley (as Bishop of London) and to his livings in Kent (as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1604). He was elected Master of University College in March 1610. The Front

Quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

of the college was rebuilt in stages from 1610, replacing the original medieval buildings, only to be completed much later in 1677. In 1632, he relinquished his position as Master of University College and became Bishop of Oxford. Bancroft had

high church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

views, and was a friend of Archbishop

William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...

. The Puritan

William Prynne William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669), an English lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and political figure, was a prominent Puritan opponent of church policy under William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). His views were Presbyter ...

(in an attack on Laud) wrote that Bancroft was a "corrupt, unpreaching, popish prelate". Bancroft's administrative ingenuity is demonstrated by the manor in which he created Cuddesdon Palace as the bishop's palace. As the vicarage of All Saints, Cuddesdon was vacant, and the Bishop of Oxford made the appointment, Bancroft appointed himself to Cuddesdon soon after becoming bishop. He secured a royal warrant to annex the vicarage to the bishopric permanently, also secured a grant of timber from the royal forest of Shotover and an annual 100-shilling rent-charge against the royal forests, and was thus able to build Cuddesdon Palace.

References

1574 births 1640 deaths 17th-century Church of England bishops People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Masters of University College, Oxford Bishops of Oxford English male writers {{UOxford-stub